Northwood 0 Hendon 1

Saturday 26th July 2025

NORTHWOOD




1	Hafad Al-Droubi
2	Nasir Sharifi
3	Mack Miskin
4	Chama Torsiello
5	Manny Folarin
6	Carl Stewart
7	Kush Lewis-Thomas
8	Ademide Baruwa
9	Dylan Kearney
10	Frankie Pass
11	Hicham Bouchareb
Substitutes
12	Jon-Jo Bates
14	Devonte Totesaut
15	Jamie Kennedy
16	Reece Price-Placid
17

The Woods were back at the Skyline Roofing Stadium for their final scheduled pre-season fixture and welcomed former manager Ben Bukowski’s Hendon side on a pleasant Saturday afternoon.

Hendon had been relegated to Step 4 for the first time in their history back in April and will be looking for a strong challenge at the top half of the Isthmian South-Central Division when they start their campaign in two weeks’ time. It’s been a bit of a rebuild for the Greens but they still have former Woods star Niko Muir up front for them, former Woods assistant manager Keagan Cole, looking fit in midfield, while they were also able to welcome back a couple of top performers from their Step 3 side for this game.

For Northwood, they face their usual early start to the Emirates FA Cup competition next weekend (Hendon received a bye as a relegated club) and this proved to be a strong test in their final warm-up match. They were still missing several members of the squad ruled out with injury and it was good to see others stepping up to strengthen their claims for a place in the first matchday squad.

Hendon started the game well and had a couple of good chances in the opening twenty minutes, one effort soaring over the bar while another was cleared off the line by centre-back Chama Torsiello. The Woods were unable to find much rhythm going forward but they were the only side to force a save during that opening period as Kush Lewis-Thomas got in down the right and his near-post strike was well saved by Josh Strizovich.

Former Woods Under 18 striker Frankie Pass, making his first pre-season start, was working hard in his position, trying to support Dylan Kearney up front but his, and others, final ball was lacking and Dons defender Nikolai Krokhin was marshalling his defence well.

PHOTOS by James Brown

It remained all-square at half-time and both sides started with much the same line-up for the start of the second-half, though Devonte Totesaut replaced Pass as the Woods experienced striker looks to continue with his full return to fitness.

And Northwood played more positively with Lewis-Thomas getting more of the ball and getting some joy, though generally from too deep to do ultimate damage. On a few occasions, he did get into the box he was either crowded out or when appearing to be fouled, the referee didn’t agree; three occasions there were free-kicks given against the Woods for simulation.

It was after one of these that Hendon countered quickly as Northwood were still showing dissent at the decision and a ball down the right saw Florian Ada race into a vacant area and square the ball for Niko Muir to tap home from close-range.

That was after 67 minutes and there was still plenty of time to level things up but, despite forcing a series of corners, Hendon keeper Strizovich looked pretty safe in goal and the visitors held on to their narrow victory.

The Woods now have a week to prepare for next Saturday’s tough home game against Egham Town in the FA Cup – it should be a cracking game to open the season.

REPORT by Alan Evans



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